Publications

Issue Archive

CAD and Virtual Prototyping Software: Continuous Development in a Challenging Economy

Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Page 1 of 3

In our annual poll of executives at leading design and virtual prototyping software
companies, we found that in difficult economic times, providing customers with
easy-to-use, value-added products is even more important. We asked executives to
give their views on the importance of 2D to 3D, upfront simulation, and trends
that will affect the software market in 2010.

The 2D-to-3D Barrier

Each year, CAD users cite that there are
still barriers to migrating from 2D to 3D,
and most include ease of use as one of
those barriers. But, according to Jeff Ray,
CEO of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks,
more people than ever before are adopting
3D. “Once they make the change,
they never go back. For us, it’s respecting
the user’s reality – they still need 2D to
get the job done,” Ray explained.

Ease of adoption of a 3D product also
continues to be a major concern for many
customers. The learning curve, cost, and
change in processes all lead to hesitation
in migrating to 3D. “Modeling in 3D is a
slightly different design process from
modeling in 2D,” said Tom Shoemaker,
vice president of solutions marketing for
PTC. “Users must change their way of
thinking about a design from simple 2D
tasks like drawing lines and geometries, to
something that resembles sculpting or a
richer 3D visualization of a shape. 3D
products are becoming more intuitive
and much easier to use, which helps overcome
the ease-of-use barrier,” he added.

Dan Staples, director of Solid Edge
product development for Siemens
PLM Software, agrees that ease of
adoption is critical. “Most 2D users are
familiar with product development and
refining designs using a certain workflow.
Generally, that workflow is to
design in each orthogonal view,” he
explained. “Then when changes are
required, they manipulate specific elements
within each view accordingly.
The process is simple to grasp and master,
but is not automated. Most 3D CAD
systems automate by replaying the
model’s design steps upon an edit. So,
the 2D user has to learn how to program
a model so it reacts a certain way
during an edit.”

Simplifying the 3D environment also
helps in adoption from 2D. “Feature-based solid modeling is conceptually
challenging compared to 2D, most 3D
CAD systems are overloaded with features,
and 3D itself is difficult to conceptualize,”
according to Chris Randles,
president and CEO of SpaceClaim. “We
address the first problem by being fully
dedicated to direct modeling, which
brings the ease of 2D editing to 3D.”

For Autodesk, the biggest barrier to
3D adoption is the status quo, according
to Amy Bunszel, senior director of
Digital Engineering. “It’s human nature
that when people are comfortable with
something, they don’t want to rock the
boat. We hear, ‘It works today, why
change?’ The downturn in the economy
will be the biggest advantage to people
changing. It’s not business as usual and
old methods simply will not work anymore.”
Added Bunszel, “Companies
must rethink their design-to-manufacturing
processes with fewer people to
take on the workload. One way to be
more effective and increase productivity
is with 3D design.”

But with the down economy, cost also
is a factor, although Shoemaker believes
it should not be a barrier to migrating to
3D. “There are general misconceptions
about the cost of 2D versus 3D CAD
products. The price of a 2D package is
roughly the same as an entry-level 3D
CAD product. The benefits of 3D modeling
in a design process can also significantly
outweigh the initial cost of the 3D
application,” he added. “The higher
fidelity, richer 3D model enables engineers
to streamline design, analysis, and
manufacturing processes.”

Integrating Simulation
and Analysis

So, as organizations are required to
do more with less due to cutbacks,
designers and engineers are being asked
to wear more hats – assuming the role of
analyst in some cases, and looking for
more upfront simulation and analysis
capabilities in their design software.

Question of the Week

This week's Question: Last week, Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, said that the electric car maker would introduce autonomous technology, an autopilot mode, by this summer; the technology will allow drivers to have their vehicles take control...